Jack Townsend is well known as a measured, serious, non hyperbolic Law Professor who has an excellant blog called Federal Tax Crimes. His analysis of court cases and his tireless fielding of questions, have helped me (and many other minnows) know more about tax law and the OVDP / OVDI processes then I have ever imagined possible. He discourages polemics, but has provided outlets for Open Forum recommendations to the IRS.
So, when you see a heading of a blog post like this one above, and he starts out like this:
“I write to rant about a practice inside the OVDI/OVDP civil penalty structure.”
and goes on to say,
My argument to that is the same as Vinny’s responsive argument in My Cousin Vinny, here, paraphrased, “That’s bullshit.”
You SHOULD pay attention, and frankly so should the IRS. 🙂 I encourage you to go read this post for yourselves.
fully taking advantage of those fearful OVDI participants — they should opt-out to protest as I have done.
IRS administration of OVDI/OVDP is unfair? I for one am simply shocked that this could happen.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2012/10/31/irs-notice-snafus-yes-even-with-offshore-accounts/
“IRS Notice Snafus? Yes, Even With Offshore Accounts” by Robert Wood
(note: not sure where to put this, but put here in case its useful)
@badger….
I saw that one too, and wondered where to put it. I think you chose well.
“These are minor glitches, of course“. He’s ironic, right?
And in his latest article, he uses the same scare tactic as many other lawyers firm. “Enter OVDI or you can go to jail”. Shamefull. Is he there to help the IRS or his customers?
Such articles just make me sick to my stomach.
So Christophe, why don’t you leave him a comment at Forbes. He is talking about Whales, most likely, but you could also point out that these seems an extreme statement to you.
That said, he is just stating the law and the IRS rules. As we know though, IRM discretion makes jail highly unlikely for the minor FBAR offender.
My closing statement today denied my tax overpayment in 2008 while retaining all the underpayments in the other years. It’s as if the punitive PFIC mark to market tax, plus it’s accuracy penalty, plus the interest on the penalty and tax projected through a year they owned me, plus the FBAR balance penalty wasn’t enough. An extra 13k+ added to their huge demand for payment. Of course my lawyer didn’t mention this and got me to pay ahead to stop the interest clock under the assumption the overpayments would go into the calculation.
Man I am so mad.
Neill
I bet you are mad!! I would be too. Call the Tax Advocate Service, as obviously your expensive attorney isn’t helping you!